Born in Atlanta in 1972, Caroline Allison received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her BA from The University of the South, Sewanee. She lives and works in Nashville. The artist employs traditional photography techniques in innovative ways (including combinations of in-camera and post-production effects, long and repeated exposures, and salt crystal cultivation).
ZieherSmith presentations: The Weight of Wind (2025); Quartet (2022); ZieherSmith & Friends (2020), BNA (2011)
Contact us for a list of available work.
Caroline Allison
Caroline Allison
Book of Hours (Sunset), 2025
Archival pigment print on paper
44 x 88 x 8 in (111.8 x 223.5 x 20.3 cm)
Caroline Allison
Book of Hours (Nones), 2025
Archival pigment print on paper
32 x 40 x 4 in (81.3 x 101.6 x 10.2 cm)
Caroline Allison
Book of Hours, 2024
Unique archival pigment print on paper
36 x 46 x 3 in (91.4 x 116.8 x 7.6 cm)
Caroline Allison
Book of Hours (Storm), 2025
Archival pigment print on paper
22 x 75 x 8 in (190.5 x 55.9 x 20.3 cm)
IN9697
Caroline Allison
First Light, 2024
Archival pigment print
36 x 46 in (91.4 x 116.8 cm)
IN9691
Caroline Allison
The Weight of Wind, 2025
Archival pigment print
36 x 46 in (91.4 x 116.8 cm)
IN9685
Caroline Allison
The Weight of Wind, 2025
Archival pigment print
36 x 46 in (91.4 x 116.8 cm)
IN9631
Caroline Allison
The Weight of Wind, 2025
Archival pigment print
36 x 46 in (91.4 x 116.8 cm)
IN9633
Caroline Allison
The Weight of Wind, 2025
Archival pigment print
36 x 46 in (91.4 x 116.8 cm)
N9632
Caroline Allison
Preservation I, 2023
Unique archival pigment print and salt crystallization
30 x 40 in (76.2 x 101.6 cm)
36 x 46 in (91.4 x 116.8 cm) Framed
Caroline Allison
Behind the Moon, 2019
Archival pigment print
36 x 46 in (91.4 x 116.8 cm) framed
IN8282
Caroline Allison
A Slow Turning, 2021
Archival pigment print
36 x 46 in (91.4 x 116.8 cm)
IN8549
Caroline Allison
A Slow Turning, 2021
Archival pigment print
36 x 46 in (91.4 x 116.8 cm)
IN8549
Caroline Allison
As if by Magic, 2024
Shaped archival pigment print (recto), Cyanotype (verso)
30 x 40 x 5 in (76.2 x 101.6 x 12.7 cm)
Caroline Allison
Snowball (#7), 2022
Cyanotype photogram
30 x 22 in (76.2 x 55.9 cm)
Caroline Allison
Snowball, 2022
Cyanotype photogram
30 x 22 in (76.2 x 55.9 cm)
Caroline Allison
Snowball, Winter, 2022
Cyanotype photogram
30 x 22 in (76.2 x 55.9 cm)
Installation view of six Snowball cyanotypes
Born in Atlanta, GA. Lives and works in Nashville TN.
EDUCATION
1999 MFA School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1999
1994 BA University of the South: Sewanee, 1994
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 The Weight of Wind, ZieherSmith, Nashville, TN
Caroline Allison, Neuhoff District, Nashville, TN
Caroline Allison, ZieherSmith, Atlanta Art Fair, GA
2023 The Shape of Passing Time, Bankers Alley, Nashville, TN
Waiting Between Trees, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN
2022 Caroline Allison, Elevate, 21C Nashville, TN
They Were There for Everyone, Volunteer State Community College, Nashville
2021 Behind the Moon, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN
2019 A History of Snow, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN
2017 Caroline Allison, Kennedy Douglass Center for the Arts, Florence, AL
2016 Underground Again, two person show, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN
2013 A Common Place, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA
2012 More Than You Know, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN
2011 the low down, Slow Gallery, Chicago
2010 A Common Place, University Art Gallery, Sewanee, TN
A Common Place, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 Rise Above, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN
2024 Solar Wind, Hutcheson Gallery, Lipscomb University, Nashville, TN
2022 Quartet, ZieherSmith, Nashville, TN
churrs, chakks, rrrrs, University of the South, Sewanee, TN
Summer Stories, David Lusk Gallery, Nashville, TN
Under the Sun and the Moon, Humble Arts Foundation
2020 ZieherSmith & Friends, Virgin Hotel, Nashville, TN
Highlander Libraries, University Art Gallery, Sewanee, TN
2019 Xanadu, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN
Land Derived Sentiments, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN
Terra Firma, Hutcheson Gallery, David Lipscomb University, Nashville, TN
2018 Vestige, David Lusk Gallery, Nashville, TN
2017 Luminous Animals, Whitespace Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2013 Scenes from the South, Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, NY
Someone I Know, online exhibition. Curated by Stuart Pilkington.
2012 Breadbox, ZieherSmith, Nashville, TN
2011 BNA: Brooklyn to Nashville, ZieherSmith, Nashville, TN
2010 Selections from A Common Place, Art + Culture, New York, NY
Modern Girl, Tennessee Customs House Museum, Clarksville, TN
2009 I Thought Our Worlds Were the Same, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville
The 50 States Project, online show, curated by Stuart Pilkington.
2008 This Modern World, General Electric, Fairfield, CT. Curator: Paddy Johnson
Dialogues: Photography, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville
Positive/Negative, Slocumb Gallery, ETSU, TN
2007 Counterpoint, Carlos Gallery, University of the South, Sewanee
2005 No Apology for Breathing, Jack the Pelican Presents, Brooklyn
2004 Some Exhaust, Lehmann Maupin, NYC. Curator: Matthew Lusk.
2003 The Accords: New Tandem Projects, Weather Records, Brooklyn, NY
Backroom, Byron Cohen Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2002 One Day, In a Day, Everyday, APEX art, New York, NY
Staged/Unstaged, Riva Gallery, NYC. Curator: Laurie Firstenberg
AIM 22, The Bronx Museum of Art, New York, NY
Rooms: Caroline Allison and Peggy Casey, Chicago Cultural Center
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Jameelah Nasheed, “Residencies, Recognition, and Rising Voices Shape Atlanta’s Art Fair,” Elephant, Sept 27, 2025
“Caroline Allison at Zeitgeist Gallery,” Joe Nolan, Burnaway, Nov 2021
“Ministry of the Arts”, Podcast by s. spivey, Vanderbilt Divinity School, Nov 2020 Sara Lee Byrd, ”Best EcoFocused Artist Series”, Nashville Scene, Oct 2020
Joe Nolan, “Critic/Ally: Caroline Allison”, Nashville Scene, Oct 2019
Joe Nolan, Crawl Space, Nashville Scene,September 2019
Laura Hutson Hunter, “State of the Art: An Undiscovered Secret”, nFocus, Sept 2017
E.C. Flamming, “Zeitgeist Gallery brings Luminous Animals to Whitespace”, Burnaway, July 2017
Monica Collier, “Caroline Allison: Everywhere is Somewhere”, Times Daily, Nov 2017
Elaine Akin, “Studio Visit: Caroline Allison in Nashville”, Burnaway, June 1, 2016
Libby Callaway, “Caroline Allison, Photographer”, The Callaway Report, Nov 3, 2016
Veronica Kavass, "Cool and Collected...", Nashville Scene, May 16, 2013
Laura Hutson, “New Photographs by Caroline Allison are a field guide to broken history”, Nashville Scene, Oct 17, 2012
Laura Hutson, "Studio Visit: Caroline Allison", Country Life/Nashville Scene, Oct 2012 MiChelle Jones, “Photographer Caroline Allison examines overlooked aspects of familiar sites”, The Tennessean, Oct 2012
Libby Callaway, Our Voice: Imogene + Willie, “Caroline Allison”, January 12, 2012 “Brooklyn Art by Way of Nashville, Courtesy of Zieher Smith”, New York Observer (image), July 28, 2011
Joe Nolan, "Art Crawl Plays Host to Zieher Smith," Nashville Scene, Aug 4, 2011 “ZieherSmith Pops Up in Tennessee”, Art in America, July 29, 2011
“Many Truths”, Chicago Weekly, May 10, 2011. The Oxford American Magazine, December 2010
Joe Nolan. “I Thought Our Worlds Were the Same”, Nashville Scene, March 19, 2009. Andrea Kurland, “The Face of America”, Huck Magazine, July 2009
Claire O’Neill, “50 States Project”, Daily Picture Show, NPR, April 2009
Jonathan Marx. “Let’s Talk about Art”, The Tennessean, April 27, 2008. John Bransom. “Caroline Allison: Somewhere and not Anywhere”, Number, Winter 2007
“Get Out”, City Paper, October 3, 2006, image
David Maddox. “Every Nowhere is Somewhere”, Nashville Scene, Sept 28, 2006, image “Critic’s Picks: Caroline Allison, Mark Bynon, Richard Feaster”, Nashville Scene, September 7, 2006
Holland Cotter. “Art in Review: No Apology for Breathing”, New York Times, Aug 12, 2005
Benjamin Carlson. “Some Exhaust Review”, Time Out New York, Sept 2-9, 2004 "Goings On About Town: Some Exhaust," The New Yorker, Sept 6, 2004
Karen Rosenberg. “Car Culture”, New York Magazine, Aug 16, 2004, image
Michael Weinstein. “Critic’s Picks: Suite”, New City, May 24, 2001
Polly Ullrich. “Who is the next Potter Palmer? In Search of the New Generation of Chicago Art Collectors,” New Art Examiner, September 2000 (cover image)
Alan Bostick. “See it or feel it or just gawk,” The Tennessean, June 1, 2000
Mary Houlihan. “Young at Art,” The Chicago Sun-Times, May 28, 2000, image
Olga Zdanovics. “Caroline Allison at NFA Space,” New Art Examiner, April 2000
Krista Peel. “Art, Maybe Entertainment,” Weepmag, Febr 29, 2000
Sotheby’s International Young Art, Exhibition Catalogue, 2000
FELLOWSHIPS, AWARDS, LECTURES
2025 Balentine Art Prize, Atlanta Art Fair, Atlanta, GA
2023 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, Hambidge Center
2022 Individual Artist Fellowship, Tennessee Arts Commission
Artist Presentation, 21C Nashville
2019 Artist in Residence, Refuge Arts, Appleton, WI
Artist Talk, Lost Message: Mapping a Political Landscape, Refuge Arts
2017 Artist Talk: A Common Place, Kennedy Douglass Center for the Arts
2011 Artist Forum Talk, Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN
SF Camerawork Auction contributor
2010 Nominee, Baum Foundation Prize Artist Talk, University of the South, Sewanee 2008
Juried Participant, ACP Portfolio Review
Panelist, “Contemporary Dialogues in Photography”, Zeitgeist Gallery
2007 Ruby Green Contemporary Art Foundation, Studio Fellow
2006 Collaborative Lecture: ’Changes in the American Cultural Landscape’, University of Turku, Finland
2002 AIM Fellowship, The Bronx Museum of the Arts
2001 Artist in Residence, Amt fur Wissenschaft und Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany
2000 Visiting Artist, The University of the South, Sewanee, TN